Desert tower raises Chile's solar power ambition to new heights
Towering 200 metres above the desert, the Atacama 1 will harvest the sun’s energy from a surrounding field of giant mirrors. But the completion of the $1.1bn project, the first of its kind in Latin America, has been thrown into doubt by the financial difficulties of its Spanish owner
Atacama 1 concentrated solar power plant being built by Spanish firm Abengoa in Chile. Photograph: Jonathan Watts for the Guardian
Roberto Herrera, the business development manager of Abengoa, stands below the solar mirrors that radiate for more than 1km across the ground and reflect the sunlight back to the tower. Photograph: Jonathan Watts for the GuardianJonathan Watts in the Atacama desert-Tuesday 22 December 2015
Rising more than 200 metres above the vast, deserted plains of the Atacama desert, the second tallest building in Chile sits in such a remote location that it looks, from a distance, like the sanctuary of a reclusive prophet, a temple to ancient gods or the giant folly of a wealthy eccentric.
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